Brothers - The Black Keys

In short, the album really succeeds or fails depending on your mood at the time you're listening to it. Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach's musical style makes Brothers sound nostalgic-blues cool or somewhat insipid. Fuzz guitar and Mississippi-Delta-influenced lyrics may sound appealing, but they are presented in a way that makes the songs sound repetitive and sometimes really white. It's almost like Auerbach might be that dirty-looking artsy guy with the dreadlocks and the poncho you sit behind in English class that plays blues at the coffee house every Wednesday for open mic night. This guy (meaning the English student) isn't a real musician; he probably has a trust fund. Not to say The Black Keys isn't a real band, but some of their songs give the same feeling of being disingenuous. Sometimes, your inner Randy Jackson (American Idol reference really? I know; I suck, but it serves a purpose) will start plaguing your membrane with "Look, dude ... It was OK ... I just didn't feel it on that one, dog? Y'knowwhatI'msayin' man? You're better than that."

The songs that sound the best is when the band acknowledges that they are two white dudes from Akron, Ohio, and drop the whole Gospel-sounding 2nd-generation sharecropper facade. To clarify this more, there just isn't enough soul to channel someone like Muddy Waters or an old blues legend like Stevie Ray Vaughn or even Eric Clapton could do, which they didn't do to excess. The legends who based their careers on R&B and Soul (Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles) can pull off saying "Oh, mercy me" whenever they feel like it and make me feel it too. The Black Keys can not. Seriously, the audience that eats this band up are the musically enlightened high school/college kids and the folks who listen to university radio. Songs like "Everlasting Light," "Tighten Up" and "The Only One" sound awesome in this regard (Side note: "Tighten Up" and "The Only One" are played in the same key, so they sound pretty similar).

What gets the Keys into trouble are the examples in their songwriting as I listed above. Listen to "She's Long Gone" to see what I mean. Part of the chorus lyrics is "She's long gone / Like Moses through the corn." What the f*ck is this I thought when I first listened to it. Are you from the f*cking '20s? I just didn't think it worked the first time I listened to it, and I still don't after listening to it a few more times. It's just delivered so blandly. "Unknown Brother" gives the same feel. The song is about a guy whose older brother died before he was born. Yet, it lacks soul. When it comes down to it, I couldn't give a sh*t about a dead baby: I jumped to the next song on the album. Well, that song, "Never Give You Up" wasn't too great either. Auerbach uses a falsetto voice on the song, which does makes the lyrics sound better. The problem this time is actually the music. It just sounds like a sub-par Motown number.

However, the whole album isn't just a few good songs mixed among the mediocre. The album has some decent filler. They're not as good as the songs I mentioned first, but they're not songs that will tempt you to hit that right-arrow button. "Ten Cent Pistol" succeeds because the song tells a great story about a impassioned girl killing her cheating boyfriend and the other woman he's sleeping with. "Sinister Kid" gives the listener one of the better tempos on the album, having drummer Patrick Carney shine. Even "These Days," the most repentant of these Gospel-esque songs, works because it is sung with feeling.

Perhaps that asshole, Jack White, may be the cause of what might be perceived as an unfair review for the Black Keys. But I think I'm being fair, despite my previous biases. This album has some good songs. However, I also felt like there were way too many songs I felt like I was forced to sit through for the purpose of the review. Because of this, I'll give this album a fair, but not exemplary grade. I would figure out which songs you want before you buy this album. It's your money.

F*ck Jack White and everything he does.

4/5
For Your Consideration: "Everlasting Light," Tighten Up," "The Only One"
For Next Time: TBA